


Blossoming Love

by monsterintheballroom



Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2019-06-22 20:09:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15589767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monsterintheballroom/pseuds/monsterintheballroom
Summary: After Elsie retired, she and Isobel become friends but soon their friendship turns into something deeper. New approach to "How did they get together?"





	1. Chapter 1

On her way to post office, Isobel stops at the dressmaker, looking at the cloth and dresses that are on display in the huge window. Isobel just decided, that it´s time to get a new dress, when someone bumps into her. Parcels scatter on the floor.  
"I´m so so sorry! But the parcels blocked my view and I ... oh, Mrs Crawley," Elsie is blushing when she sees who she nearly ran over.  
"Don´t worry, Mrs Hughes. No harm done." Isobel bends down and helps Elsie to pick up her parcels. " That looks like a lot of work."  
"Yes, I just bought some tablecloths, linen and cloth for curtains I want to sew. You can put that parcel on the top. I think I can balance this pile home safely in case I don´t run into someone again."  
"I could help you walking these home," Isobel suggests.  
"Oh,no, Mrs Crawley. I can hardly let you carry my stuff home and I don´t want to you keep from shopping"  
"I just wanted to send a letter but I can always do this tomorrow. It´s not that important."  
"Well," Elsie looks at the pile again and she has to admit that she could need a helping hand. "Alright but only if can I invite you to a cup of tea afterwards."  
"I won´t say no to this invitation", Isobel smiles.

  
"That is a very beautiful place you´ve chosen, Mrs Hughes," Isobel says when they arrive at Elsie´s cottage only a couple of minutes later.  
"Thank you, Mrs Crawley. I had an eye on it for years and luckily is his Lordship taking a reasonable lease. But I have to warn you. It´s still a bit chaotic and there are still boxes to unpack, " Elsie says when she opens the door. She feels a bit awkward that someone of the Crawley family visits her at home, even when she knows that Isobel doesn´t care about those things and Isobel already invited her for tea when they were dealing with Ethel.  
Isobel follows Elsie indoors and puts the parcel on the nearest sideboard. She lets her eyes wander over the floral wallpaper and the pictures that are already hanging on the walls. "Is this Scotland?" she asks pointing at one of them.  
"Yes, that´s where I grew up," Elsie says and takes off her coat.  
Isobel looks at her and thinks she heard a little bit of melancholy in her voice but she doesn´t ask any further questions.  
"Oh, I see you even have a telephone."  
"Yes, His Lordship insisted on it but frankly I have no idea what to do with it. I don´t know anybody who owns a telephone yet. Now, shall I give you  the grand tour before we have tea?" Elsie laughs and leads Isobel into the living room.  
"That are a lot of shelves," Isobel comments.  
"Yes, Tom, I mean Mr Branson helped me to set them up. And I intend to fill all of them. Finally I have enough time for reading."  
"What kind of books interests you, Mrs Hughes?" Isobel wants to know. "Don´t judge me, Mrs Hughes,  but I´m a sucker for a good mystery crime."  
"So am I. I love the books of Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle," Elsie grins.  
"That´s fabulous," Isobel claps her hands," I finally found someone to talk about them. And I love listen to the The Play of-"  
"The week," Elsie finish Isobel´s sentence and both women laugh. "Yes, I like it, too. Did you listen to it yesterday?"  
Elsie shows Isobel around while both women chat about their favourite radio programme.  
"And last but not least the master bedroom." When Isobel enters the room, Elsie wonders if it´s even appropriate to show her this room and why she didn´t hesitate to show it to her.  
"Oh, Mrs Hughes, what a beautiful view of the garden." Elsie steps next to her. "It must be wonderful to wake up to this sight." Both women look at each other and for a split- second Elsie is confused.  
"What? Oh, yes." Elsie looks back into the garden and hopes that Isobel didn´t notice that she was blushing again. "But judging by the state of it, it takes a lot of work before I can really enjoy it. I plan to put some roses over there and maybe a little apple tree there."  
"Yes, it will be a lot of work but I can tell you from experience, that it´s a very calming and enjoyable work."  
"I hope you don´t mind, that we have to drink our tea in the kitchen but as you´ve seen, my living room isn´t fully furnished yet," Elsie says over her shoulder when they leave the bedroom.  
"Not at all, Mrs Hughes. Oh, who is this?" Isobel points at a picture of a young woman, that is standing on a sideboard in Elsie´s bedroom. "Is this your sister? I think, Lady Mary once mentioned that you have a sister."  
"No, it´s not my sister." Elsie takes the pictureframe and smiles sadly at it.  "It is- was a very dear friend of mine. We were very close once but-" Elsie shrugs and puts the pictureframe back onto the sideboard.  
Isobel feels sorry, that she mentioned the picture and obviously touched a sensible topic. "I´m sorry, Mrs Hughes. I shouldn´t have asked. Sometimes I´m just too noisy."  
"It stands out in the open, although I didn´t expect someone to see my bedroom," Elsie is forcing herself to smile but Isobel can see the sadness in her eyes.

  
Isobel follows her into the kitchen where she´s watching Elsie preparing the tea in silence. Isobel could curse herself that she mentioned the picture because she has the feeling that the lightheartedness of their early conversation disappeared and after half an hour of forced and polite conversation, Isobel leaves.

  
On her way home, Isobel can´t help but to think about Elsie´s look her on her face when she mentioned that picture, the gentleness and sadness in her eyes, when she looked at it. . "Could the rumours about  Mrs Hughes be true?" Isobel wonders.

  
Later that evening, Elsie sits down on her bed and her gaze falls onto the picture again. She gets up again, takes it and puts it on her nightstand. The woman in the picture is smiling directly at her. "You would have liked it here. It´s all we ever dreamt of." Elsie sighs and turns off the light.  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

The next day

  
Elsie swings her legs over the edge of the bed and is stretching herself. "At least I made it to five am."  
It took her some days to get used to having breakfast on her own but she enjoys it that she can eat and read the newspaper unhurriedly. Her eyes scan the headlines before she opens the part with the radio programme, reading the summary of The Play of the Week.  
"Oh, that sounds interesting. I wonder if Mrs Crawley will listen to it as well," Elsie thinks and wonders where this sudden thought of Isobel comes from and continues reading the newspaper.  
  
Isobel had troubles to get out of bed that morning because she only fell asleep after laying awake for hours. Her mind was always wandered back to the picture she saw in Elsie´s bedroom and to the question who this woman was. She can´t explain why this kept her mind occupied the whole night. She didn´t  know Elsie every well and shouldn´t be bothered. They only met on a few occasions and even when they dealt with Ethel, they never spoke of anything personal and only made polite small talk. But then Isobel heard rumours circulating in the village about Elsie and a mysterious love affair. Although the rumours were rather vague and ebbed away after few weeks, Isobel had an idea what kind of affair that may be because she always had this strange feeling, she can´t really name, when Elsie was around and she was wondering if the picture was a confirmation of her assumption.  
After having a copious breakfast, Isobel decides to do some gardening. She puts on her floppy hat and arms herself with secateurs. The scent of the roses fills her nose when she steps closer. An image of Elsie´s garden pops up in her head and she remembers Elsie´s  comment about planting roses. "Bet those would look lovely in her garden," Isobel smiles and pictures dozens of blossoming rose trees in Elsie´s garden but when she gets aware of that thought, Isoble shakes her head and is confused where this sudden thought and this warm feeling in her chest came from.  
  
Later that day, Elsie tidies up the kitchen after she made herself a light lunch and her eyes fall on the radio programme again, that lies open on one of the kitchen chairs . _"Mhhh, maybe she would like to come over and we could listen to it together? Stop it, Elsie! She has better things to do than spending time with you, you daft woman."_ She puts the magazine aside and walks into the garden, where she takes off the  laundry from the washing line. Elsie is passing the telephone on her way to the bedroom and stops but doesn´t pick up the telephone receiver in the end and walks with the laundry basket into her bedroom. She puts the last stockings into the drawer of the sideboard when she remembers the conversation from two days ago, when Isobel asked her about the picture and how forced their conversation felt afterwards. Elsie felt sorry later that day, that Isobel didn´t feel comfortable during tea and soon left but Elsie couldn´t tell her the truth at least not now.   
_"Maybe I´ll have a chance to apologise the next time I see her."_ Elsie is closing the drawer. _" Although, why shouldn´t I call her? I´m sure she wouldn´t mind and maybe agrees to come over for tea tomorrow and I can apologise."_  
Elsie walks up to the telephone and puts her hand on the telephone receiver, being unable to pick it up. "What is it with you, Elsie. You´ve used a telephone before," but deep down she knows, that it´s not handling the telephone, that makes her so nervous. She finally picks it up, her hand feels sweaty when she tells the operator Isobel´s address.   
Isobel is on her way upstairs when the phone rings. "I`ll take it, Beth. This is 346 Mable Lane. Isobel Crawley speaking."  
Elsie nearly wants to hang up when she hears Isobel´s voice.  "He- Hello, Mrs Crawley. This is Mrs Hughes speaking."   
"Oh, Mrs Hughes! What a pleasant surprise," Isobel answers cheerful.   
_"Good, she didn´t hang up,"_ Elsie takes a deep breath. "Mrs Crawley, I... erhm... I wanted to ask you if you would like to come over for tea tomorrow and together we could listen to The Play of the Week." Elsie´s heart is beating like crazy and the moment, it takes Isobel to answer, feels like an eternity to Elsie.  
"Yes. Yes, I would like to come, Mrs Hughes." Isobel frowns when she sees the smile on her face in the mirror.   
"Shall we say around three then?" Silence. "Mrs Crawley? Are you still there?"  
"Yes, I´m still here. Yes, three sounds good. I will see you tomorrow then and have a nice day, Mrs Hughes."  
"You too, Mrs Crawley."

  
Both women hang up after this rather brief conversation. One of them is still smiling when she puts down the telephone receiver while the other one is confused why she is so much looking forward to it.


End file.
